How much water?
snowdancer03
Posts: 238 Member
How much water should I drink to help support my weight loss goals. I have always heard 1/2 my weight but recently heard 2/3. What is best?
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Replies
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As long as your pee is a pale color you are hydrated.6
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Assuming you don't have a known or suspected (de)hydration problem, as much as you would normally drink....
all water including what can be found inside a steak, a watermelon, a diet pop, or in a vinegar-orange-lemon-purple tea-rose petal infused water bottle counts towards your hydration needs.
SOME people claim that overhydrating makes them feel more full while "dieting". I have not found that to be either a sustainable OR an effective tool for myself. And I would be somewhat concerned as to whether I might cause some electrolyte issues if I were to over hydrate
Mind you, I do find some soups to be more filling than the ingredients would suggest on their own... and soups do count towards your hydration needs too!!!6 -
There's all manner of stuff written with prescriptive rules for how much water to drink, but it's mostly nonsense. Would a petite woman reclining gracefully on a couch in an air-conditioned, humidified space all day require the same number of ounces-per-pound as an Amazon working as a bricklayer all day in the hot, dry, sun, then doing a 5 mile run afterward just for fun? I don't think so.
Most people can drink when they're thirsty, and be OK. Some people find that if they make it a point to drink a glass of water (or other non-caloric fluid) before each meal (maybe half an hour before), their appetite at the meal is more manageable (and some people don't find that). People who are in hot, dry climates need more fluid than those who don't; people who do more physical jobs or get lots of exercise need more fluid than those who don't. Paying attention to thirst may take care of that, unless you're one of the people with sub-ideal thirst cues (I am).
As previously suggested, pale straw-colored urine suggests your're getting enough hydration from food/drinks. (Bright almost neon yellow may be OK, too, if you're getting lots of extra water-soluble vitamins, especially the Bs.) Dark-colored urine: Not good, underhydrated, or ill.5 -
I would think, too, pay attention to how often you are going. If its only once or twice in a day's time, you are likely not hydrating enough. The color is the correct standard to go by.
And to back up Pav8888, many people think it has to be water; that nothing else but water counts, but that's not true. Its liquid, and thus tea, coffee, pop, soup, food - all that counts toward your hydration needs. The only thing that is truly de-hydrating is alcohol.
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/healthy-beverages#15 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »I would think, too, pay attention to how often you are going. If its only once or twice in a day's time, you are likely not hydrating enough. The color is the correct standard to go by.
And to back up Pav8888, many people think it has to be water; that nothing else but water counts, but that's not true. Its liquid, and thus tea, coffee, pop, soup, food - all that counts toward your hydration needs. The only thing that is truly de-hydrating is alcohol.
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/healthy-beverages#1
And the non-alcohol of the alcoholic beverage itself is still potentially hydrating. Most of a bottle of beer, for example, is water . . . typically 88-95% percent. Common 80-proof clear unsweetened spirits, around 60% water. That's not an excuse to overconsume it, and not saying it therefore counts as a "healthy beverage", though.
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bmeadows380 wrote: »I would think, too, pay attention to how often you are going. If its only once or twice in a day's time, you are likely not hydrating enough. The color is the correct standard to go by.
And to back up Pav8888, many people think it has to be water; that nothing else but water counts, but that's not true. Its liquid, and thus tea, coffee, pop, soup, food - all that counts toward your hydration needs. The only thing that is truly de-hydrating is alcohol.
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/healthy-beverages#1
And the non-alcohol of the alcoholic beverage itself is still potentially hydrating. Most of a bottle of beer, for example, is water . . . typically 88-95% percent. Common 80-proof clear unsweetened spirits, around 60% water. That's not an excuse to overconsume it, and not saying it therefore counts as a "healthy beverage", though.
Some debate at which level alcohol becomes dehydrating due to messing with anti duretic hormone and also body needing to expell metabolites.
At as high as the 5% level of modern beer *I* have not found clear evidence whether one or two would trip the level from hydrating to dehydrating compared to the amount of water that went in. A couple of places saying hydrating. Many saying de-hydrating, but trust level for all low normal internet with lack of sourcing, i.e. NOT very.
Of course you will pee more after you drink a liter of beer. The question is: will you pee 999 or less ml specifically as a consequence of the beer, in which case it is a net hydrator, or 1001+ml, in which case it is a net dehydrator!
I know a couple of people who might volunteer for the study!
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bmeadows380 wrote: »I would think, too, pay attention to how often you are going. If its only once or twice in a day's time, you are likely not hydrating enough. The color is the correct standard to go by.
And to back up Pav8888, many people think it has to be water; that nothing else but water counts, but that's not true. Its liquid, and thus tea, coffee, pop, soup, food - all that counts toward your hydration needs. The only thing that is truly de-hydrating is alcohol.
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/healthy-beverages#1
And the non-alcohol of the alcoholic beverage itself is still potentially hydrating. Most of a bottle of beer, for example, is water . . . typically 88-95% percent. Common 80-proof clear unsweetened spirits, around 60% water. That's not an excuse to overconsume it, and not saying it therefore counts as a "healthy beverage", though.
Some debate at which level alcohol becomes dehydrating due to messing with anti duretic hormone and also body needing to expell metabolites.
At as high as the 5% level of modern beer *I* have not found clear evidence whether one or two would trip the level from hydrating to dehydrating compared to the amount of water that went in. A couple of places saying hydrating. Many saying de-hydrating, but trust level for all low normal internet with lack of sourcing, i.e. NOT very.
Of course you will pee more after you drink a liter of beer. The question is: will you pee 999 or less ml specifically as a consequence of the beer, in which case it is a net hydrator, or 1001+ml, in which case it is a net dehydrator!
I know a couple of people who might volunteer for the study!
I'd point out that the article linked above says to drink plenty of water alongside your alcoholic bev. If the water inherent in the beer (or whatever) doesn't count, how much "side water" would one have to drink to wipe out the alcohol's purported "hydration cancelling" diuretic effect. If inherent water in beer (etc.) isn't a hydrating fluid, there must be something magical about arriving in a separate glass/can?
I'd sign up for the study, but as a li'l ol' lady I might be too small-capacity for Science!1 -
Spoke with my doc about this last week.
CLEAR urine. Not light yellow. Clear 😭💧1 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »I would think, too, pay attention to how often you are going. If its only once or twice in a day's time, you are likely not hydrating enough. The color is the correct standard to go by.
And to back up Pav8888, many people think it has to be water; that nothing else but water counts, but that's not true. Its liquid, and thus tea, coffee, pop, soup, food - all that counts toward your hydration needs. The only thing that is truly de-hydrating is alcohol.
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/healthy-beverages#1
And the non-alcohol of the alcoholic beverage itself is still potentially hydrating. Most of a bottle of beer, for example, is water . . . typically 88-95% percent. Common 80-proof clear unsweetened spirits, around 60% water. That's not an excuse to overconsume it, and not saying it therefore counts as a "healthy beverage", though.
Some debate at which level alcohol becomes dehydrating due to messing with anti duretic hormone and also body needing to expell metabolites.
At as high as the 5% level of modern beer *I* have not found clear evidence whether one or two would trip the level from hydrating to dehydrating compared to the amount of water that went in. A couple of places saying hydrating. Many saying de-hydrating, but trust level for all low normal internet with lack of sourcing, i.e. NOT very.
Of course you will pee more after you drink a liter of beer. The question is: will you pee 999 or less ml specifically as a consequence of the beer, in which case it is a net hydrator, or 1001+ml, in which case it is a net dehydrator!
I know a couple of people who might volunteer for the study!
I'd point out that the article linked above says to drink plenty of water alongside your alcoholic bev. If the water inherent in the beer (or whatever) doesn't count, how much "side water" would one have to drink to wipe out the alcohol's purported "hydration cancelling" diuretic effect. If inherent water in beer (etc.) isn't a hydrating fluid, there must be something magical about arriving in a separate glass/can?
I'd sign up for the study, but as a li'l ol' lady I might be too small-capacity for Science!
Lol
I used to do one 8-12 oz glass per 2 shots alcohol. Never had a hangover when I followed this rule of thumb.....and boyyyyyyyy had some nights when I put it to the test.
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Spoke with my doc about this last week.
CLEAR urine. Not light yellow. Clear 😭💧
Golly, there sure are a lot of respected mainstream sources that disagree with your doctor, when it comes to generic advice for average people.
https://www.nhsinform.scot/campaigns/hydration
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-the-color-of-your-urine-says-about-you-infographic/
https://health.ucsd.edu/news/features/Pages/2014-04-21-colors-that-suggest-urine-trouble.aspx
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GSpoke with my doc about this last week.
CLEAR urine. Not light yellow. Clear 😭💧
Golly, there sure are a lot of respected mainstream sources that disagree with your doctor, when it comes to generic advice for average people.
https://www.nhsinform.scot/campaigns/hydration
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-the-color-of-your-urine-says-about-you-infographic/
https://health.ucsd.edu/news/features/Pages/2014-04-21-colors-that-suggest-urine-trouble.aspx
She’s a brilliant MGH affiliate and I trust her over the internet.
(Also, on mobile and struggling to see specific article authors; credibility is everything)1 -
GSpoke with my doc about this last week.
CLEAR urine. Not light yellow. Clear 😭💧
Golly, there sure are a lot of respected mainstream sources that disagree with your doctor, when it comes to generic advice for average people.
https://www.nhsinform.scot/campaigns/hydration
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-the-color-of-your-urine-says-about-you-infographic/
https://health.ucsd.edu/news/features/Pages/2014-04-21-colors-that-suggest-urine-trouble.aspx
She’s a brilliant MGH affiliate and I trust her over the internet.
(Also, on mobile and struggling to see specific article authors; credibility is everything)
It would be:
Scotland National Health Service's official information service
The Cleveland Clinic, a well-known and respected US academic medical center (info sourced from US NIH)
University of California at San Diego Health, another major respected academic health service
I'm not saying your doctor is wrong; I'm no expert. But I'm looking at respected, mainstream sources - that aren't "Joe Bob's Health Service and Auto Repair" or some form of dubious health journalism - that disagree, that's all.
ETA the underlying NIH source: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003139.htm6 -
GSpoke with my doc about this last week.
CLEAR urine. Not light yellow. Clear 😭💧
Golly, there sure are a lot of respected mainstream sources that disagree with your doctor, when it comes to generic advice for average people.
https://www.nhsinform.scot/campaigns/hydration
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-the-color-of-your-urine-says-about-you-infographic/
https://health.ucsd.edu/news/features/Pages/2014-04-21-colors-that-suggest-urine-trouble.aspx
She’s a brilliant MGH affiliate and I trust her over the internet.
(Also, on mobile and struggling to see specific article authors; credibility is everything)
Yes, but have you asked her to define to you, specifically what she MEANS by "clear"?1 -
GSpoke with my doc about this last week.
CLEAR urine. Not light yellow. Clear 😭💧
Golly, there sure are a lot of respected mainstream sources that disagree with your doctor, when it comes to generic advice for average people.
https://www.nhsinform.scot/campaigns/hydration
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-the-color-of-your-urine-says-about-you-infographic/
https://health.ucsd.edu/news/features/Pages/2014-04-21-colors-that-suggest-urine-trouble.aspx
She’s a brilliant MGH affiliate and I trust her over the internet.
(Also, on mobile and struggling to see specific article authors; credibility is everything)
Yes, but have you asked her to define to you, specifically what she MEANS by "clear"?
To quote, “not a little yellow, CLEAR”
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To quote, “not a little yellow, CLEAR”
You're very athletic: perhaps there is consideration of that in her advice? Until MY doctor tells ME to do otherwise, the advice given by @AnnPT77 above seems... more appropriate for ME with your doctor's "not a little yellow, CLEAR" sounding a little bit too clear, absent my own doctor's advice to the contrary...
Blatantly cutting and pasting Ann's links:
https://www.nhsinform.scot/campaigns/hydration
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-the-color-of-your-urine-says-about-you-infographic/
https://health.ucsd.edu/news/features/Pages/2014-04-21-colors-that-suggest-urine-trouble.aspx
vs
advice given by respected dr to someone who is not me
🤷
In any case: we can all agree that she didn't assign you x-amount of liters of water irrespective of anything else!2 -
That was my general rule of thumb ^^@ PAV and, details aside as you implied, this general visuao rule of thumb is 👍 up2
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Disagree with the recommendation for seeking to maintain clear (or even CLEAR ) urine.
Although clear can be in the healthy range (as is pale yellow) it can also be because someone is over-hydrating and flushing out electrolytes. Over-hydration also has a range of course from simply unnecessary to unhealthy.
Sometimes clear is fine, clear all the time may not be and shouldn't be a goal IMHO and goes against everything I've seen from reputable sources which promote a range from clear to pale yellow.
Yesterday as an experiment I did a 100km cycle ride home to home on two bottles (which is a stretch for me) to avoid any social interaction. Ran out about 30 minutes before the end and was thirsty. Definitely got into the "drink more" range. No actual performance impact (some pro riders actually train and race slightly dehydrated for weight saving but not something an average Joe or Jane should probably aspire to).
Just like occasional over hydration is fine, occasionally getting thirsty is also fine. There’s IMHO far too much attention given to something which the vast majority of people (outside of endurance athletes for example) manage perfectly naturally.
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